1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the production of plastic greenery for decorative purposes, such as artificial parsley, and more particularly to the formation of stems and buds of greenery projecting from an elongated member with the stems and buds curved and repositioned to create interfering sections.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Plastic greenery strips, such as artificial parsley, have been made and used for several years. They make displays look more appetizing, more flavorful and more saleable. They do everything expected of real greenery with none of the problems. With the trend to longer store hours, real greenery can droop or wilt or fade before the selling day is over. Plastic greenery stays fresh and bright around the clock, day after day, year after year and is less expensive. Furthermore, it is bacteria-free. It frames the produce adding the finishing touch to a picture of appetizing freshness. It can be maintained by periodically sanitizing the parsley and replacing any damaged sprigs and broken holders.
The plastic artificial greenery widely in use is made up of a series of sprigs, each sprig having buds, bud stems and a central stem. Each such sprig is molded separately in a cone shape. The central stem of each sprig is inserted in a hole in an elongated member or strip. Such elongated member has a series of spaced holes to receive a plurality of such sprigs. The end of the central stem going through the hole is enlarged by heat or otherwise so that the stem will not slip out of the elongated member. (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,925) Such construction has several disadvantages:
(a) It requires a separate operation to insert each sprig in the hole in the elongated member;
(b) In some cases, when it is necessary to bend the elongated member holding the sprigs, the member cracks or breaks at the holes causing the sprig to fall out.
(c) In most cases the member holding the sprigs does not exceed 15 to 18 inches which requires several to be put together for a display. Because of such short lengths a metal or plastic channel is required to hold a number of members.
The method of the present invention has the following advantages over the artificial greenery now in use:
(a) The buds, stems and elongated member from which the buds and stems project are all molded in one piece to provide a member with a plurality of sprigs of stems and buds.
(b) It permits making such greenery three feet or longer in one piece.
(c) The elongated member of greenery can be inserted into a metal channel (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,925) or can be used without such metal channel. The base of such member can be made of any width to fit a customer's needs. Such member can be made to fit into the divider holders which are placed in the stands holding the displays.
(d) Since the elongated member from which the stems and buds project is a solid member with no holes there are no stress points such as in the greenery now in use. Consequently the member can be curved without breaking or damage.
Artificial greenery is shown in various patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,898,769; 3,130,109; 3,318,755 and 3,644,164. Injection molding is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,416,451; 2,450,448; 2,263,894; 2,879,617; 2,901,852; 3,644,164 and 3,776,676. U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,960 discloses molding, heating, bending and cooling of a tubular piece of thermoplastic material. However, this prior art does not disclose the method described and claimed herein for the production of plastic greenery.